Giving Back

Listen to François de Gaspé Beaubien describe the importance of giving back to the community and how philanthropy contributes to one's well-being. In a family business, when deciding in what manner to give back, it is important to really understand the value of time as the most appreciated commodity that a business can give.

Words are cheap. I mean, I love words, but they’re cheap. Deeds, deeds, that’s how we’re all measured eventually, now, tomorrow, and in the past. Deeds, what have we done, right? And there is that adage about who, to whom, to those who have received a great deal, much is expected. I believe that, I was raised that way. And so our children are very fortunate and I’m not talking just from a monetary standpoint, I’m talking about from love, caring and support, right, I mean, if you get that alone, you’ve won a lottery. So from that, much is expected. And you have to give back, you should give back. And frankly, they’ve done a ton of studies on this, when you give back, the feeling you get is awesome, it’s an awesome feeling. And you ask people they’ve done studies on this too, what’s the most important thing that people want? Number one, the one thing you want the most, it’s not money. It’s to feel appreciated, to feel valued. That ranks above love, by the way. To feel appreciated and valued, because I exist, I have meaning to my existence, and giving back is a direct perfect corollary to that. It actually substantiates that desire. And some days you go, oh gosh I don’t want to, and then you do it and you go gosh, I feel great. So yes, that’s what I want to give my children, and my nephews and nieces and anybody else’s, that feeling of giving back is just a wonderful feeling. Now, giving a cheque is actually extremely easy, I mean, if you’ve got the means, you write the cheque and you’re done. And frankly, it can be a cheque of $10, $100, $1000 and up, but it’s a very easy thing for any human being to do. It might be a little painful but you’re just basically spending 5 seconds. If you actually give – the most precious commodity we have as human beings is our time. It is finite, it is ticking by, literally, and when you give of that, that is the most precious thing you have, whoever you are, time. So when they give of their time, that’s what impresses me.